http://www.mindhacks.com/blog/2006/1..._the_blue.html


The colour of a placebo can influence its effects. When administered without information about whether they are stimulants or depressives, blue placebo pills produce depressant effects, whereas red placebos induce stimulant effects (Blackwell et al., 1972). Patients report falling asleep significantly more quickly and sleeping longer after taking a blue capsule than after taking an orange capsule (Luchelli et al., 1978). Red placebos are more effective pain relievers than white, blue or green placebos (Huskisson, 1974; Nagao et al., 1968)

From Irving Kirch's chapter on placebo in The Power of Belief: Psychosocial Influences on Illness, Disability and Medicine (ISBN 0198530110).

This is INCREDIBLE. I am astonished... Now I am looking very hard at my own meds. And I am thinking that that this pill or that should be red or blue - whether a sedating med that must be taken in the daytime should be red to keep you awake -- or that pills that might cause restless sleep, if blue, might help us sleep.

The human mind is a curious thing, isn't it?

My apologies to all for not being around this past week (but obviously being elsewhere).. Tis entire last two months have been stressful, and the past 3 weeks I have been emotionally friable, crying fully and freely, for the first time in many years... It's a good, of course -- being able to access those emotions.. but because I can't control them and because I also can get to feeling overwhelmed and saddened beyond reason, I've found it difficult to do most anything that very surface things.. and have tried to avoid anything heavy. So it's a bit novel for me to feel good enough to come round here..

-Theresa

Dear Theresa,
Sorry you have been having a hard time.

It sounds like you have some coping skills that work well enough sometimes. Keep using them.
I hope that you feel better.
Mari

Glad that you are around....
(((HUGS)))
bizi